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More than 600 Central Ohio Transit Authority bus drivers and maintenance workers could walk off
the job on July 2, the day before Columbus’ Red, White & Boom celebration.

At least 26,000 people took COTA buses to and from Downtown for the annual fireworks show last
year. COTA has scheduled 200 extra buses, advertised special shuttles and planned more-frequent
local service for this year.

President and CEO W. Curtis Stitt said bus service would shut down — for Red, White & Boom
and everyday routes — if a strike takes place. “We can’t provide some type of skeleton service,”
Stitt said. COTA would continue only its service for disabled passengers, officials said.The union’s
notice to the State Employment Relations Board that it intends to go on strike doesn’t mean a
strike is definite. Workers filed a 10-day notice in 2005, but negotiators reached agreement on the
ninth day.Transit authority officials spoke yesterday with Columbus Police Chief Kimberley Jacobs
about a strike’s potential impact on traffic for Red, White & Boom, said Department of Public
Safety spokeswoman Amanda Ford. Mike Collins, executive director of the July 3 event, said he also
spoke with city officials and will talk more about contingencies next week.

“It’s not that we weren’t aware it could be happening,” he said. “But it could have a pretty
serious effect.”

Transport Workers Union Local 208 President Andrew Jordan said the potential strike date wasn’t
chosen because of the popular event. Workers have been negotiating with COTA since August and have
been working without a contract since November, he said. “We’re not trying to hold anyone or
anything hostage.”

Union members overwhelmingly rejected a state fact-finder’s recommendations in April, but
negotiators continued talks with a federal mediator. No talks have been scheduled yet for next
week.

Union members didn’t like two provisions in the tentative deal. One had them paying 1 percent
more toward their public-employee pensions in 2013 and 2014; the other created a two-tier wage
scale in which maintenance workers hired after 2005 would be paid less than those on the job
longer.

The union also wants drivers to reach the top of the COTA pay scale more quickly.

A walkout could begin at 3 a.m. on July 2, according to the union notice.

Strikes in 1986 and 1987 over wages, sick days and a plan to hire part-time workers lasted a
total of about 70 days. COTA supervisors drove some buses, and the transit authority advertised for
replacement drivers, but service was severely limited.On a typical weekday, riders take 60,000 to
65,000 trips on COTA buses.